By Jill Fennema –

At the end of this month, Mary Ann De Groot will retire from the Pipestone County Recorder’s Office. She has served the county as the recorder for the past 28 years.

Mary Ann actually started working at the courthouse back in 1985 as the deputy court administrator. In those days, vital records like births, deaths, and marriages were recorded in the court’s system. But the courts had become so busy, it was decided to move vital records into the recorder’s office, where deeds, mortgages, liens, and other real estate records are kept.

Mary Ann has been elected to this position seven times, with each term being a four-year term. She has lived by the sage advice she received from a colleague early on: “Don’t ever forget the people who put you in office.”

“We do not sell things here at the recorder’s office,” she commented. “We provide service and we try to make it the best service we can.”

Mary Ann has gone above and beyond the call of her duties as an elected official several times in her 38-year tenure with the county. She has had it a couple of times where she was called upon to come to the courthouse after hours to get someone a copy of a birth certificate that was necessary for them to travel the following day.

As technology has changed the way records are kept, the nature of the recorder’s work and the scope of the customer-base has changed immensely.

In 2000, the recorder’s office began keeping digital records of births, deaths, and marriages. In 2006, the county began digitizing land records.

Prior to this, recording land transactions required writing or typing the same information seven times. First the information was typed into the numerical and reception index. Then it was typed into the Grantor (seller) index followed by the Grantee (buyer) index. After that the identical information was written in the tract index. Then the document was copied and the filing information was typed on that copy. Then they made a microfilm card as a backup and typed the appropriate information on that card as well. Finally, they duplicated the microfilm card and typed the information on that card.

Now they simply scan the paper document and type in the pertinent information on it.  The information is then duplicated by a second person.  “This is a huge timesaver and makes the office much more efficient,” Mary Ann said.

In the case of an eRecorded document, the document is already scanned which makes the document process even more efficient.  Electronically recording documents also saves on the office budget, as they don’t need to spend as much money on envelopes and postage.

“Technology has totally changed the way our office operates,” Mary Ann said. “I believe it will only continue to change.”